måndag 5 februari 2018

Noobcon X qualifier in Arvika

These days we can find a good amount of gatherings where a community spot for the n00bcon championship is on the line. While it sucks that we can't fit everyone at the championship, it is really sweet to see communities around the world find yet another reason to gather and play. This is a story from Arvika, from the pen of David "Svetzarn" Strandberg. See you at n00bcon Svetzarn! /Mg out

I'm not used to this writing stuff, but as the winner I had to write some kind of report so here we go.

The day that many of the oldschool players in Arvika was waiting for were getting closer. My schedule was tight, working away from home during the weekdays and celebrating Christmas like 3 times. I managed to use some time to playtest with Markus 'Kungmarkus' one or two times and one time with Jimmie 'Polers'.

After some testing with my ponza deck using Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore as win condition - trying mono black with splash blue power as one version and Serendib Efreets and power as another - I finally settled on the deck I would play during our tournament; five-color artifact aggro.

The playtesting against mono red or U/R burn did not give me much. It was hard to decide what deck I should build. I knew that 10-15 people would show up (ended up with 11) and I figured it would not be any 'The Deck' showing up, but White wheenie, Trolls, Erhnamgeddon and stuff like that. I got a feeling that a couple of maindecked The Abyss, a playset of Bolts and some StP would be great a night like this.

Ready to rumble.

Match 1 - Henrik Berntsson (Erhnamgeddon)Game 1:
When I was looking down at my starting hand I saw like three mana sources and some other decent cards, I drop my
land and pass the turn over to Henrik. If i remember this correct he
drop land and play Sol Ring... Well that's okay, but then 2 moxes and
Erhnam efters the table in his first turn.

I dont have any answer to that creature and no mana acceleration at all. I pass my turn after a landdrop and he attacks for four and drops mishra and Serra Angel... 0-1

Game 2 & 3: Better starting hands with moxen and early Juggernaut or Su Chi drops, answers for his creatures with StP and disenchant. And so on. 1-1 and then 2-1

Match 2 - Emil Vernersson (Trolls, Hypnonic & Disco)Game 1:I got a lot of mana out on the board very quickly, I played Wheel of Fortune – Timetwister and then wheel once again in the first couple of turns until I got everything I needed to. Emil did not manage to do much at all before he died. 1-0

Match 3 - Markus "Kungmarkus" Guldbrandsson (Mono red)Game 1:Markus drops a Mishra's Factory and pass turn to me, I drop land and a mox, pass the turn over and hope to trap him. He drops another land and activates mishra that I now can disenchant. Next one out is Chaos Orb to flip on his mountain with success. Then I cast some artifact creatures and Abyss. 1-0

Game 2:Land - Sol Ring - Mox Ruby - Wheel of Fortune; I draw 1 or 2 moxes and Ancestral Recall, passing turn (casting ancestral on his turn). Now on my turn I drop Juggernaut that I think had to eat a Lightning Bolt. He cast Goblin Baloon Brigade and an Ornithophter, I cast two Su-Chi and then they beat him down over the next couple of turns. Didn't need that sideboarded CoP: Red. 2-0 in less than 10 minutes.

Match 4 - Olof 'Loff' (Blue sweet pile of cards)

Loff's Monoblue deck. (2nd place).

Game 1: A couple of counterspells and psiblasts stopped me from an "easy win", but it still went down pretty fast. I had not seen his deck in action so I did not really know what to sideboard or expect to see in the next game. 1-0

Game 2:I held a decent starting hand, but then it felt like I only drew mana. When he reached six mana, a Triskelion came into play. The next round he unfortunately received visits from his two brothers in form of two Copy Artifacts. 1-1

Game 3:
Very close game, and anyone of us could have won this. In the end I think it was a fortunate Wheel that gave me a Lightning Bolt or two so I could deal the last damage. 2-1

Match 5 (Semifinal) - Johan 'Johanguld' (Troll Disco)

Semifinals.

Game 1: I played early removal on both Johan's Mishra's Factory and a troll, and followed up with Chaos Orb on Badlands. With that mana denial, the rest of this game played itself. 1-0

Game 2: Turn one or two I dropped a Juggernaut that got killed by a Chain Lightning, and then cast a Su-Chi that got eaten by Shatter. Lots of bolts and stuff was thrown in my face but after a while I was saved by an Abyss. I was able to rebuild a small artifact army that finally could take him down. 2-0

JohanGuld's deck. (3rd place).

Match 6 (Final) - Olof 'Loff' (Blue sweet pile of cards)Game 1:Game one was a quick affair. Lots of early moxen and a Sol Ring was followed up by a top decked Mind Twist that he could not recover from. 1-0

Game 2: This time Strip Mine and Chaos Orb ruined it for Olof, he did not seem to find more than one or two lands. After that and I could beat him with my Su-Chi and some burn. 2-0.